Homeland: Shalwar Kameez (Recap/Review)

Shalwar Kameez is the third episode of Homeland’s fourth season. A two-episode season premiere offered a tense and an explosive intro and things are slowly heating up, as Carrie successfully returns to Islamabad, Pakistan.

After she literally forced Lockhart to put her back in to the field, Carrie is now back in Islamabad. On her way to the embassy, she asks the driver to make a stop where Sandy was killed. As Carrie takes a walk down the street, she remembers the moment when the crowd pulled Sandy out of the car.

Quinn obviously decided to quit his job, so he is having some sort of an evaluation meeting. He says that his is done with the agency, however, people at the CIA must clarify that Quinn is not a danger to himself or to the others. Peter tells the nice lady that he controlled himself for 12 years and he only lost it once. However, he is being faced with a question if he is romantically involved with Carrie, since he decided to save her instead of Sandy. Quinn gets very upset and he leaves the room. Back at his place, he is sitting by the pool and drinking with Eden, the building manager. His boss, Dar Adal, is trying to reach him over the phone, but Peter simply throws it into the pool.

Carrie arrives at the embassy, but nobody is there. As she meets a couple of guys on the hall, they tell her that the whole place is under a lockdown and nobody gets in our out. However, Mathison was supposed to have a meeting, so she visits the ambassador, who is surprised that Carrie got Sandy’s job. At the meeting, Mathison asks people about their opinion on Jordan Harris. She wants to know if they share the same suspicions on Sandy, who supposedly traded secret information in exchange for the information on the targets. Despite the fact that it seems like Sandy was spying in front of their noses, nobody is willing to admit that. Carrie tells them that she is the one to blame, because she wanted to believe in Sandy. However, she just wants to find out what happened to him.

Back at her apartment, which is quite cozy actually, Carrie receives a text message that says: “I landed.” She immediately goes out, despite the fact that the embassy is under a lockdown. Mathison tells the driver that she is just going to the hotel nearby and as they drive off, a car and a motorcycle follow them. The driver tells Carrie that these are the ISI people, who are constantly following them. When they get to the hotel, Mathison tells the driver that she will only be gone for an hour, however, she sneaks out at the back and gets into a taxi. The man on the motorcycle is still following, so she creates a diversion and escapes. Carrie enters a building and as she knocks on the door, Fara Sherazi opens them. It seems like Mathison brought her own team there, since Max, Parvez and Qadin are also there. They are following Aayan, because he is their new operation now. It seems like they have a plan to recruit him, without him realizing what is actually going on.

Dar Adal comes to Quinn’s apartment, since he is not answering his phone. He tells Peter that he should keep himself together or else he will go under retraining. Adal confronts Quinn with the fact that he is acting like this because of his feelings for Carrie Mathison. He says that Sandy would still be alive if Carrie was not in the car with them. Peter snaps, grabs his boss and starts choking him. When Peter comes to his senses, Adal just tells him to have a good life.

When Carrie comes back from her morning run, she sees several people with bags in front of the embassy. As she enters, she hears Saul, who is having a conversation with the ambassador. Mathison is not happy to see him, because she barely got there and she does not want to be responsible for the ex-director. However, despite initial hesitation, she says yes when Saul asks her if she needs help. Carrie would like him to talk to the ambassador to lift the lockdown order.

Fara meets with Aayan and she introduces herself as a journalist from London. However, the boy does not want to speak with her and he tells her to leave him alone. It seems like the operation is not exactly going as planned. Fara later tells Carrie that she could tell by Aayan’s face that he was terrified. However, he must have seen or heard something if he was told to shut up and that is a good news for Carrie and her team.

After her busy day, Mathison is having a smoke on the roof of the embassy and the ambassador joins her. She tells Carrie that she violated her order when she left the embassy, however, she will rescind the lockdown. The ambassador tells Carrie that she and Saul were once engaged, but she is not rescinding the lockdown because of him.

It seems like the romance between Peter and Eden is over, since he literally kicks her out of the apartment. Before she leaves, the building manager tells him that nobody should go through what he went through and she says that Carrie is a lucky girl.

Aayan is drinking his coffee when suddenly the waitress starts screaming that there is a woman in pain. Since he is almost a doctor, Aayan rushes to the ladies room, but the lady is no one else then Carrie. She tells him that she can help, but Aayan still does not want to talk. Mathison blocks the door and tells him that he is a part of an important story and that she wants to be the one to tell it. Carrie tells Aayan that she can protect him and even get him out of Pakistan in exchange for his story. She uses her charm and seduces the poor kid, who seems to like the idea of studying in the U.S.

Quinn is looking at the video of Sandy’s death again, even though he watched it several times. However, something catches his attention this time. There is a man in the crowd, who seems to be talking on the phone. Carrie is just about to start eating her dinner when she receives Peter’s call. He tells her that they never had a chance with Sandy, because the whole thing was premeditated, from start to finish. When Carrie looks at the video, she in fact sees a man who seems to be wearing a comm. Despite the fact that nor she or Quinn recognize him, they both agree that he is from the Pakistani Intelligence. However, they are wondering why would they kills Sandy, since his cover was already blown and he had to leave Pakistan. Carrie tells Quinn that this changes everything and that she really needs him there. After she practically begs him, Peter tells her that she is the hardest person to say no to. When he finally agrees to come to Islamabad, Carrie tells him that she loves him.

Despite the fact that it seemed like Quinn will say Carrie that he loves her too, that did not happen. Well, at least for now. He just sat on his sofa and he looked very confused. However, Homeland is kicking off into a new season really explosively and judging by the first three episodes, it is going to be one tense ride. So buckle up, Quinn is coming to Pakistan and together with Carrie, they will surely kick many asses, fire bunch of bullets and probably even blow something up occasionally.